Almost Red
by vinegarette-kiss
Summary: Marda B wins, 4 years later he succeeds in the destruction of the last temple of the b-damage the remaining pillar of hope for the resistance , but also awakens the prophesized flame-haired b-da player of legend. Only problem is, he's the wrong one.
1. 00: Ground Zero

**Disclaimer: **The characters are not mine, the twists on canon, future au-s, plot are all completely mine.

**BEFORE U GET READING - **this is **YaoiLuver4Eva**. yeah, the name has been changed to **vinegarette-kiss**- so don't be all like wtfomghutfisthat? :) it's ok. i don't bite. (unless i'm mad)

**Author(ess)'s Note:**

This is a **dark!AU - set in CANON future**. **This follows canon up to the part where yamato&co. go to confront Marda B** and the Li vs. Wen, Cain vs. Gray, Terry vs. Enjyu, Yamato vs. marda B matches happen. The matches do happen, but the **outcomes are different**- which obviously, leads to totally **different future**. This is kinda mainly **adventure**, so romance is pretty low-key, the main canon-fanon stuff is still there. The **EnjyuXLienaXWen** love triangle, **CaratXBull**, **Joshua+Cain(dodgy friendship dynamic)**, but probably not the way you remember them from the series.

**notes for this chapter**: the way this chapter's written is really different from the way the rest of the story will be. the rest of the chaps will be easier to read and more like - not so..all over the place.

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**Almost Red**

**[Enjyu-Centric][Adventure][Dark!CanonAU]**

Marda B won the final fight, four years later – he succeeds in the destruction of the last temple of the B-damage, the last symbol of hope for the resistance against his new world. What he didn't count on, was the awakening of the flame-haired b-da player of legend, what the resistance didn't count on – was that they got the _wrong _guy.

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**00: Ground Zero**

The ground spins beneath his feet, dusty browns melting into patches of green shooting up from the edges of his vision, colours swirling into a strange mish-mash of familiar things he can't quite recognize.

His right foot lurches forward as he takes one unsteady step forward.

Instinctively he rocks back immediately – almost expecting to fall, but he doesn't, or rather his feet know _not to fall_ and by pure force of habit, his body shifts forward, his left foot dragging behind him to meet his right.

_Who's there? Blue eyes, freak red eyes – footsteps too quiet to be heard until it's too late. Too late, too late – what now?_

_What now? What now-_

What?- it's his foot. Bleeding, blood trailing from the bottom of left, shattered pieces of shiny blue glass around his heel – he tries to move it, and oh holy f--- that hurts like nothing else and now what is he meant to do?

What is he doing?

_What now? Now? Now, now we fight._

_Hands wrapped tightly around metal, leather gloves encasing fingers – smooth marble sliding into smoother metal – the perfect fit. Light cast from the single lightbulb above, shadows dancing in devil red eyes. _

_Now we fight. _

Yeah, that sounds right. He's going to fight – fight for what? Fight against what? But the answer sounds good in his head – _now we fight _, sounds like a line from a movie. What movie?

Night of Living Dead IV – the name jumps into his head, like neon lettering flashing in his face from a city of a thousand lights – a movie about a girl(?) and a boy and a really big b-dam---

Beautiful scarlet red on striking purple – nightshade on a paint colour sample, polished to perfection. B-damon.

_White gold, goblin green glinting in the center – so fast, are his hands even on it? It feels like he's flying – no way out, no way out, nowayout, nowayoutnowayoutnowayo-_

_B-damonster. _

He's moving again, foot dragging behind – he doesn't look behind to check, just keeps going forward, one step at a time towards a destination he doesn't know. His left thumb curled around his belt strap, his right grasping against his pants for the familiar touch of _Lightning Kahn. _

Lightning Kahn?

It's a name, a name – a name for what? His name? No – lightning doesn't seem right, it doesn't roll off his tongue the way he imagines his name would. No – he's got it, Lightning Kahn is something else important to him, something else important like…

B-DA FIRE!

_Too fast – no response. This is a battle, this is a massacre – a red-eyed freak robot with hands faster than the eye can see, with a goblin green b-daman that operates in a way that he's never even seen before._

_Now he's shielding himself, he can barely keep up his defense, let alone attack. Each time the attacks bounce closer and closer, and as the each one hits the metal of the b-da stage, the impact of metal grinding against marble hurts his eyes and it's all he can do to stay where he is – to keep fighting and then? _

Then Lightning Kahn flies out of his hand and it's all over.

It's the b-damon. Lightning Kahn is a b-damon, no, _his b-damon. _But who is he? Who is he, owner of Lightning Kahn – who is he, and why is here, and what is this desert place with stone rubble and smell of fire?

What does he look like? It hits him just now, that his mind knows a red-eyed freak who can fly but he doesn't even know the colour of his own eyes. He looks down at his hands, they look like hands – five fingers, slightly tanned – rough calluses on the finger tips.

What if I'm the red-eye monster?

Suddenly it seems so much more important to know, to understand – to confirm, to reassure and to _know_, know that he is not the inhumane robot, that he didn't destroy the owner of Lightning Kahn and take the b-damon as a victory trophy and-

There's glass. Or whatever it is.

It's a soft translucent blue, it's shiny – so maybe. Maybe, because of a 'maybe' he kneels down, his knees buckling under him, his foot screaming out in agony as he picks up the piece of see-through blue.

He squints, picking up it up with the edges of his fingers and holds it above his head and then he sees it. _Himself_. _Blue_ eyes.

A sigh of relief escapes his mouth before he's realised it. He doesn't know why it's so important that he's not the red-eyed monster, but then he angles the see-through blue a bit higher and then he catches sight of his _hair? _

Fire engine red-

Eyes opening in a unknown place. Is this hell? It looks like hell- dark and wind howling behind him and voices screaming-

_No- wait, not voices. Voice. One voice – he knows that, Yamato? No – softer, not as loud- turning around know and then he sees him. _

_Small figure, yellow tunic billowing – purple cape streaming out behind him like a pair of damned angel wings and big blue eyes wide open, being blasted out, out of the hell-cavern into the blackness.. _

Fuck. No, NO, NO – he's running towards him, towards Terry – and he's reaching out his hand and pleasepleaseplease don't be too late – and suddenly the blank spaces are filled with rushing information ( red demon hypnotizing eyes, standing tall, you won't get your enjyu back now, you really gonna waste that b-energy) but it's too late.

Terry falls, falls, falls – and leather gloves picks up the red bandanna left behind on the floor and wraps it around his right hand. This is it, he thinks - for every one, for everyone he's ever screwed over, failed, disappointed - he needs to go, go find Yamato - he's not going to let it end like this and most importantly, it's for himself - for Enjyu.

Now, now- now Enjyu remembers Enjyu.

He is Enjyu and Enjyu is –

_Enjyu is fire and burning and destruction, and hurt and acceptance and dismissal and useless and useful. He is tired and scared and worried and he has friends and enemies, and then no friends, then no enemies and sometimes he thinks he has something more than friends, blonde hair with sparkling eyes and secret smiles, and then blonde hair with ice eyes and not-good-enough so there are no words and a kid who showed him the world and showed him there was still good and two brothers who loved each other more than anything loud quiet annoying nice and a boy who could fix the world with metal and a fat judgemental cat who didn't like him and then a great plan to make things right that went wrong-_

His knees hurt. Can't get up – can't get up, going to stop here, stop here in ruin wasteland with the bright blue sky and sun so hot it burns and **flashing blue** in the corner

_-hypnotizing red eyes, lies and promises and more lies and more promises only they all get broken in the end and a childish purple eye with a watchful green-eye-who-knows-everything and a hidden cupboard in a dark room with only one lightbulb and the battle against a demon so fast that he didn't even, ever see it coming waking up in strange places with warcries he doesn't recognizes red fabric wrapped around his hand from flying angel boys with blue_

**Blue**.

Enjyu looks up just in time, to see flashing blue body slam him onto the ground, his ankle giving off a sickening crunch that makes his head spin all over. His head hits the ground, and he looks up to see sharp metal glinting in the sun.

And suddenly, the memories become purpose - and all he wants to ask is if everything's alright, if yamato's saved the world, and where the hell is everybody, and where the hell is _he_, and how did he end up in a desert and why does his head hurt so much and Enjyu wants to say so much, only the words all catch in his throat when the knife blade pressed down against his throat, so everything he means, wants to say only comes out as one word.

**"Terry?"**

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**tbc.....**so, R&R - review make me write faster! tho, i actually have pretty much already written the next chapter.


	2. 01: Speechless

**Disclaimer: **The characters are not mine, the twists on canon, future au-s, plot are all completely mine.

**notes for this chapter**: um, not much I guess. like maybe one/two occurences of the word 'fuck'? The 'plot' starts now but this is still kinda not really all that exciting. But its necessary, so just bear with me 4 now. and yeah, i know i do long chapters - that's probably why it takes me so long. but this fic has a lot of niggly details that if i don't put all together, it will be way, way too hard to write and for you guys to understand later.

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"_**Terry?"**_

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01: Speechless

The effect is instant.

Gloved hands roughly yank at Enjyu's hair, pulling him up until they're both on equal eye level and big blue glass eyes look straight at him and then just as suddenly as it happened, the hands release him and his head falls back on to the ground.

Then there's that moment, that moment of complete silence where cameras pan over the scene in a pretty montage, but Enjyu's never been all that good at being silent, or being pretty for that matter so he opens his big mouth and kills the film.

"I-"

"You." Terry interrupts, rubs his temple then repeats the world, "_you_."

Enjyu looks up and waits for him to go on, but ten seconds is too long to wait, so he tells him to go on. "I what?"

"You're not meant to be here."

_That_ gets Enjyu's attention.

Out of all the things that piss Enjyu off, being told that he is _not meant to be_ (insert word here) is right on top of the list in big red letters.

"What the _hell is that supposed to mean?_"

"I said, _you're_ not meant to be here," Terry says, and what gets Enjyu the most is the way he says it, eye contact locked, voice certain. It's weird, because Enjyu has always been the kind of person to make others doubt themselves, it's really all Enjyu is particularly good at anyway. Doubting.

"Why not?"

This time Terry has nothing to say back, and that sort of annoys Enjyu anymore so he then he's propping himself up on his arms and ignoring the pain of moving and keeps on going.

"Well, you know what – don't tell me, fine," Enjyu says, and then suddenly he remember what he was thinking before and the questions all start coming back. "I mean – what the hell, I see you, we're stuck in the desert in bloody nowhere, then you fuck up my foot and the first thing you gotta say to me is that _I'm not meant to be here_?"

Another deep breath.

"You know what, you're right – I'm not meant to be here! What I am meant to be is on some flying hell airship helping Yamato beat the shit out of the Marda B who wants to make fucking _statues_ or bring darkness or doom or whatever and then I end up here, and I don't even know where _here _is and you're not telling me or nothin-"

"We're in Cowtoon."

Enjyu blinks. And blinks again. And finally makes the connection.

"We're in Cowtoon lad, and now we need to get out."

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Terry stands up, and Enjyu stares at just how much taller he seems (the blunette had always had air of midget around him before) and it almost looks like one of them stretchy circus mirrors.

Then Enjyu _attempts_ to stand and his foot scream out in so much pain that instantly his legs turn to rubber and his vision starts to go blurry again.

Light blue eyes look down on him unamused, "Can't you get up?"

Lips curve up into a familiar scowl, "Does it look like it?"

Hands rub against his temple and then Terry walking to his side and crouching, poking at this and that – and ohnohedidnt- and then Terry's waving the most giant ass piece of shiny blue-glass that Enjyu's ever seen, but what really freaks Enjyu out is the shiny red edge slowly dripping onto sand.

_Blood_.

His breath caught, his chest heaving and suddenly there was that base instinct to just shut his eyes and he could feel _it_ moving up his throat but then Terry does something else horribly painful to his foot and his eyes snap back open.

Terry rolls his eyes.

"Don't be such a baby, it's only blood."

And that's when Enjyu notices, fully notices that there is something, very, very wrong.

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"Look, all you have to do is hold on to my arm," Terry says, one arm fumbling around in a pocket, "whatever you do, _don't let go_."

Enjyu's about to go tell Terry exactly what he thinks of this whole situation, of this guy's attitude problem and the way he talks down to Enjyu like he's some stupid little kid when something catches his eye.

More specifically, something small, round and blue.

"_Wait – _is that b-energy?"

A split second later, when Terry whips around (so suddenly that Enjyu nearly falls back on his ass) with a glare that could melt icecaps Enjyu realises that this was probably the wrong thing to say.

"This," Terry hisses at him, "this," he repeats again for emphasis, "is a _teleportation crystal_."

This makes sense, sort of – Enjyu thinks, not that anything makes much sense to him right now. And then it he rememebers what he was thinking before, and suddenly Enjyu's wondering if that's _not_ b-energy, what happened to _b-energy_ and he remembers Terry's reaction to the word and he wonders if pissing off the only person he's seen so far is a smart move.

Especially, when that one person is the cause of his messed up ankle.

Whatever, Enjyu thinks – he's done the damage already – nobody got nothing done by just playing safe and making people happy.

"So," he drawls out mimicking Terry's speech pattern, "so, what like _happened_ to b-energy? Actually, what the hell happened back there – cuz all I can remember is you falling outta that cave and –"

Terry stops walking, his arm stiffening in Enjyu's grasp.

"_What_ happened was that I saved you from _you_."

Now Enjyu stops, his brain trying to process what the blue-haired teen has just said. "You saved me and-"

"I _saved _your ass after you went back to the shadow alliance and got yourself brainwashed."

Enjyu opens his mouth, a thousand words trying to escape to tell Terry about the plan, about Li and how he had discovered his own b-energy, only then the Bierce incident had happened, but then Terry _looks_ at him, _looks right_ at him and sucks all the words out of him.

"We lost alright? None of us got to Yamato in time. We didn't have a _chance_."

A deep breath.

"That's what happened."

The first instinct is utter, complete denial. "But you all had b-energy! I remember, before they messed with my head, we got info that you all got b-energy and that you were coming-"

"**I don't know what happened either lad**_**, **_**alright?**"

Gloved fists clenched together tightly.

"All I _know_, is that I used up my b-energy on you, because that was the _right_ thing to do."

For the first time since he's met Terry, Enjyu shuts up.

---

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Bzzzztt.

The makeshift camera, hidden in the top crevasse screens the 'entrance'. Two new figures enter appear in a flash of blinding blue light.

"Master Armada, Master Armada!"

Wild, unruly red hair bobs up and down in the air as the lion-hooded boy waves his arms up and down. "We finally got someone – I think it's Tsubame!"

Armada's half-lidded eyes widen, and he strides over as fast as he can manage, using his cane for support. "_Tsubame?"_

"Yeah, yeah," Asado leans in and then pulls back in shock. "HOLY FUC-, ARMADA – look, look!"

Never far from the b-da master, Mei follows eagerly, tired blue eyes shining with new anticipation. "Oh my – "

"I know – Master Armada, it's got to be him! I can't believe it – you were right, the b-da mage was right, the last prediction – Tsubame brought _him_ back and-"

"Listen," Armada says, placing a paw on the Asado's shoulder, "I know we are hopeful, this may be the best chance we will ever get but we can't get carried away with assum-"

Armada never gets to finish, the door slams behind them and all that's left behind is Mei's discarded clipboard.

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As the blue light clears, Enjyu closes his eyes, counts to ten and swallows down the nausea building up in his throat.

_Teleporting_, Enjyu thinks – is one experience that he will never, ever try again. It reminds him way, way too closely of being on a roller coaster straight after eating five hotdogs in a row.

"_Don't say anything_," Terry whispers under his breath.

It's the first thing that Terry's said to him since the b-energy relevation – to be honest, right now, Enjyu doesn't even feel like he can look Terry in the eye.

"K," Enjyu mumbles.

"_Don't look up, make sure no one sees your face." _

Another nod, eyes facing the floor.

"_The cloak's there for a reason." _

Terry presses his hand to a stone wall, and rock slides to give way to a tall steel door.

---

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Quiet chatter fills the room: Enjyu recognizes several accents belonging to different parts. He recognizes the harsh Neon City accents, something akin to Liken and few odds and in betweens that sound like marshland inhabitants.

Then Enjyu's foot steps over the doorframe and suddenly the room is deathly quiet.

He can't see much through the hood, there is enough light to see where he's walking, where Terry's feet are and he's relying on Terry to guide him to wherever they're meant to be going – but every nerve in his body is on edge, telling him to run for it and keep running.

Silence has never been a good thing.

Then there is a slow patter of feet, and as Enjyu staggers along further down the corridor(?), he notices more feet emerging at the edge of his vision until they form the edges of a path, with his own at the centre.

Are they all _watching _him?

Terry pulls at his arm, the pace quickens despite Enjyu's growing difficulty at keeping up.

They edge closer to the next door, one awkward shuffle-stagger at a time and then out of nowhere, the door slams open.

Enjyu rocks back in surprise and finds himself being pulled upright by a pair of sturdy arms surrounding him. There is sudden weight against his neck, the smell of dust and flour and harsh sobs echoing through his cloak.

"Oh, thank the b-damage, I thought, I thought – I thought all this time you were gone and here you are now-", a fresh bout of cracked sobs and sniffles hit the speaker.

He tries to move out of the iron grip, the voice sounds familiar, Enjyu thinks – but he's more concerned about the fact that he's trapped with a crazy crying lady.

"I can't believe you came back to me, oh baby," a hand reaches into the hand and attempts to caress his face. Enjyu jerks back at contact and in that moment, the hood falls.

"Yama-Enjyu?"

And there, standing all around him are twenty-four pairs of stunned eyes and shell-shocked Mei Delagdo with tear streaks glistening on her face.

---

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So, chapter 2 – up! R&R – the next few chapters get a bit more exciting. This is actually all quite boring for me to right, but the basic facts need to be set straight. Now that housekeeping is out of the way, there's actually time to get onto the _adventure _and the _plot _finally, will begin.


	3. 02: Flightless

**Disclaimer: **The characters are not mine, the twists on canon, future au-s, plot are all completely mine.

**notes for this chapter**: it took a while for me to update, school and stuff generally suck ass (although, i am fully in love with my design course this yearrr

--scholarship here i come). finalllyyyyy - it does take a while to get to a point but im finally getting excited about this fic. 3 yay me. and hopefully, yay for you readers too! Ehhmmm, well, things are still a bit confusing in this chapter, but i promise, pinky promise next chapter will finally clear out the basic questions ~ oh, btw i'd like to point out that i've been redoing Diamond in the Rough (chapter 00, 01, 02 have been redone - the rest will be done eventually, some stuff has changed like the pointless, pwp makeout scene between g +e in the 2nd chapter i think?) so you know, for avid fans (who i am sure would like to curse my children for ever considering abandoning it) go take another look if you can possibly forgive me xd.

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"_**Yama-Enjyu?" **_

_**And there, standing all around him are twenty-four pairs of stunned eyes and shell-shocked Mei Delagdo with tear streaks glistening on her face.**_

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02: Flightless

-

"-well you made the decision, we just did what we were told!"

"-that's not the-"

"---they knew we were coming, I don't know how-"

"You know perfectly well why: it was our last-"

"Then why-"

-

Enjyu wakes up in the dark, metal glinting from the corners.

Enjyu wakes up in a room with no sky, with his hands and feet crudely strapped onto a bed and a makeshift cast on his ankle.

Enjyu wakes up, and can't shake the incredibly overpowering feeling of deja-vu.

-

There is a muffled slide-and-click, as the door opens and then suddenly, the lights flicker on.

The lighting is dim; it doesn't take Enjyu's eyes long to adjust and within seconds he can see the narrow doorframe, the barren rock walls and the salvaged metal scrap heaps piled into corners. Enjyu can see Terry's slender figure standing in the doorway, face clouded over.

His first reaction is to talk, but then his mind flashes back to b-energy and he hesitates just long enough for Terry's hand to cover his mouth.

"Shh, no shouting."

The redhead instinctively contemplates biting, but then clamps his mouth shut – his jaw rigid against gauze.

"I brought water, k?"

A glass makes its way over to Enjyu's mouth, and suddenly he's hit with a wave of insane thirst that he didn't know he was suppressing. He takes several hasty gulps as the water slides down his mouth and down his shirt.

Immediately, cold glass leaves his cracked lips and Enjyu strains forward, not quite sure what he's done wrong, only knowing that he needs more.

"Don't move." A hand pushes Enjyu back down, and Enjyu stares up at the rock above while leather slaps against leather as Terry's hands untie the cords around his wrists. "Try sitting up."

Slowly, Enjyu shifts himself up, his back cracking as it does. Terry flinches at the sound and Enjyu snickers before he remembers that he's meant to be quiet.

Half of Enjyu expects Terry, the Terry he knows to blush and the other half wonders if this new Terry's gonna flip out again.

Instead, Terry laughs, his voice a little deeper – but still familiar to Enjyu's ears. "Guess I still haven't gotten over that," he says. "Here," Terry reaches over to the bedside table (which Enjyu has only just noticed) and hands over scrappy red fabric.

"You've got water on you lad," Terry says, gesturing towards Enjyu's chin.

His own hands mimic Terry's actions, and Enjyu's just pressed fabric against his neck when he realises just what he's done and recoils in horror.

"What's wrong?" Instantly Terry leaps forward, eyes wide in familiar worry – something Enjyu hasn't seen since he's gotten here and suddenly Enjyu feels like throwing up and crying all once. "This –"

"It's yours isn't it? This scrappy thing was with your belongings-"

Enjyu's shoulders shake. "Not mine." He closes his eyes and exhales. "It's _yours_ Terry."

The blue-haired boy steps back, surprise flickering across his face.

"I'm sorry," Enjyu blurts out without meaning to, "I didn't mean – I'm sorry. But I didn't mean to, I had this pla-"

"It's okay."

The words come out shakier than Enjyu reckons Terry wants them to sound. The blue hair bobs as Terry looks down and then back up again, chin up in determination.

"**It's okay. **Its just history now." Blue eyes meet blue eyes and Enjyu knows that the words aren't a hundred percent real and they don't mean what they should mean but Enjyu's good enough at pretending to know that what they mean right now is that Terry just wants to forget.

Terry picks up the half-empty cup. "I have to redo these," he says holding up the cords. "I'm not meant to be here – but I thought…"

Enjyu shrugs, "Thanks anyway," and resigns himself as Terry does a very good impression of a top boy scout as he makes his way through a series of elaborate knots. "I'll try to come back, they're still trying to decide what to do with you. I mean, not like that lad, just – there's been all this confusion."

"It's cool."

Light flicks off, darkness falls and Enjyu can barely see Terry's outline as he freezes in front of the door. "By the way, it's Tsubame now."

There is a muffled slide-and-click, as the door shuts and Enjyu is left in the dark with a scrap of red fabric clutched tightly in his hand.

-

"-someone in here _is a trai-_"

"-isn't _forgetting too convenient?"_

"It's not _him_, alright – I can tell-"

"How? You're the only one _who came back from-"_

"-bring personal issues into this-"

"-telling me to-"

-

Click, slide click.

Brisk footsteps, cords around his feet are untied – cords around his wrists are removed from the bed before being interlinked together, tighter than ever.

"Get up."

His head yanked up, and a coarse fabric sack comes down over his head. The material rubs up against his nose and he coughs repeatedly.

"Shut _up_," the voice hisses in his ear.

Hands pull him to his feet and Enjyu can hear the figure turning from the rustles of fabric. "Can you walk?"

He nods. "Yeah," he adds uncertainly, not at all sure if he actually can.

"Let's go."

-

_Black_.

No light, no light – he can't see anything. Where is he? _Where is he?_

Panic sets in. His wrists are bound tightly behind his back, his feet are tied together but he's not on the bed anymore. He hurts in places he doesn't remember hurting in before, his shoulder blades, his cheekbone, his neck, b-damage-fuck, his _stomach and _is that _blood on his lip?_

The ground is cold, hard rock digging into his back every time he attempts to move; he rolls over to his left, only to crash into something sharp and metallic that hurts like a _bitch-_

-and then _something falls on top of him_. Something comes crashing down, it's sharp edge slicing its way down his cheek and he can _feel it _through the rough fabric on his face and then he can't move anymore because it's trapped his torso.

It gets harder to breathe – because suddenly, suddenly he _can't get out_ and he _can't see_ and all he can hear now is himself breathing and how fast he's breathing and maybe he can hear his heart pounding because is that even _possible and then-_

"Oh my-"

-_then suddenly he can breathe again._

The sudden weight is lifted off his chest, and warm hands manoeuvre him into a sitting position. Enjyu is too busy remembering to breathe to protest being man-handled.

Next, he can see again. It seems unbearably bright at first, though the room is so dimly lit is nearly in total darkness anyway – and he takes an hesitant glance up at the ceiling, and Terr-Tsubame.

At that moment, Enjyu feels _fear_.

There is something not quite right about the way Tsubame's face is contorted, about the way his eyes are darting around, the way his mouth metamorphoses into a angry-sad-crazy scowl and the way his jittery fingers hold onto Enjyu's shoulders.

There is also something all too familiar in that expression – and that's the worse part, because Enjyu can recognize the worst of himself, in someone Enjyu had always believed to be perfect.

"_Fucking hell_," Tsubame hisses, his strong accent chopping up the first one word into two distinct sounds – in his head, Enjyu is suddenly overcome with the urge to fold his arms across his chest and tell the younger boy to go wash out his mouth.

"_Someone's going to-"_ the blue-haired boy stops, mouth opening and closing as he clenches his fists. "-look," Tsubame grimaces and then turns away. "Here, lemme help you back up."

He bends down to eye-level, and a few seconds of hauling and grunting result in Enjyu seated back on the bed.

"I need to sort some things out," Tsubame says – that crazy fire still burning behind Enjyu's eyes.

Part of Enjyu feels like he should say something, stop Terry-Tsubame from going out and doing whatever insane idea he has; the other part of Enjyu tells him that there is nothing he can do anyway, experience has showed him that.

The door slams shut before Enjyu can make a decision.

-

"-_ing suffocated!_"

"-my **girlfriend died in there**_**, and he's the-**_"

"-sacrifices, you're not the only one-"

"But _you're the only one __**who got to come back-**__"_

"-you trying to say something lad?"

"-traitor-"

-

"Break it up now!"

"Tsubame, TSUBAME!"

"Let it go, you're going to _kill him!_"

"-out of the way!"

-

"-know that he didn't make the right decision…"

"_Right? _If I hadn't-"

"-killed a _innocent person-_"

"…far from _innocent_ Tsubame,"

"-not involved! How can-"

-

"-five days and this _issue is still not resolved!_"

"-prioritise!"

"-nothing needs to be fixed!"

-

When Te-Tsubame comes back, Enjyu is already half-asleep.

Enjyu's always been a light sleeper though, and it doesn't take more than a few steps for him awaken, eyes blinking in the dark.

"Terry?"

"Shhh…" He walks closer, footsteps nearly inaudible and Enjyu lies back and waits. "It's Tsubame now," Tsubame says half-heartedly.

"Oh. Right."

"That shouldn't have happened, that was _completely out of line_." Tsubame stops and Enjyu waits. "If I had –"

"It doesn't matter. What happened, happened," Enjyu says – feeling more than a little hypocritical at his own advice. "Look, I'm still alive – that's got to count for something," he tries in a rather pathetic attempt at black humour.

Instantly material rustles as Tsubame tenses up beside him. "_That's not the point_-" "I was kidding," Enjyu says – and is reminded of how bad he is at cheering other people up. "I've been worse off."

The comment makes things more awkward than better. Finally the blue-haired boy breaks the silence.

"They _told me _no one was going to be in here. Si-, the guy who got in here. I'm sorry lad."

"-it was probably my fault," Enjyu says. "Showers right? I said some shit about how it was fucking _weird having _him watch me. He had a go at me, got my cheek and then I bit him."

That makes Tsubame laugh. Instantly, the atmosphere is less tense, less dark – even without any lighting.

"Yeah, I saw lad – he's got these werewolf teeth marks on his arm." A pause. "It's still messed up though, he _knocked you unconscious_ after that you know and dumped you back here with that _bag _and you could've suffo-"

"I'm ok, T – still got two arms and legs and dam good teeth." Enjyu flashes a toothy grin and Tsubame snorts. "Next time, I'll bite harder."

"Yeah, well no need to worry about that lad," Tsubame says as he stretches his arms.

"There's definitely _not going to be a next time_."

-

"-I don't feel safe anymore, I mean-"

", almost _killed him back there_-"

"Settle down, let's speak one at a time,"

"-all evidence points-"

"what evidence? The bullshit that comes out of your mouth?"

"-only _one who came back!_"

"-_him _back too…"

"_pure luck_-"

"-or the blessing of the _SA_-"

"some_one sold us out –"_

"-is that it?"

"-isn't your _brother _the poster boy_?"_

"-got nothing to do with this!"

"-got everything to do with this!"

"Calm down, one at a time-"

"Telling us to fucking calm down when we have a trai-"

"Say that again to my _face and-_"

-

"We have to look at the bigger picture."

Master Armada's face is a picture of worry, creasing wrinkles layered on top of one another as he stands in front of Tsubame, his hand clutched onto his wizened staff. Behind him, Mei stands stone-faced, staring blankly ahead.

"The _bigger picture?_" Tsubame's voice rises, and Asado hurriedly runs to shut the door behind them.

"You know what we're doing here? We're witch-hunting, we're trying to find _someone else to blame_ – and you're saying we should just _give it to them?_ Find-"

"Tsubame," Mei steps forward. "Think about it, we are a _unit_, we need to function as a unit- please, think; there are barely any of us left, we can't-"

"_So because_ a few people are dealing badly with the same _sacrifices_ we've ALL had to make, we're going to give in? We're going to stoop down the same level, find someone to _blame_ and then-"

"Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do." Now Armada steps forward to stand by Mei, "Mei's completely right – they need _hope_. After the last temple, they need something to show that we are still together, that we still have direction – that we are still fighting for _them_, for _us, _to show that we're not giving in."

"So a dead body's meant to show we still have _hope?" _

"The temple was a _massacre _Tsubame, you're their _leader. T_hese last few days – you're losing all that – they don't know, they don't trust you anymore. At the very least, this will re-establish some of that-"

"You want me to earn back trust through murder? Because that's exactly what it's sounding like to me-"

"For all you know, he could be the reason for the massacre – it would make sense," Armada pauses, his hand rubbing over the purple crystal, "-he used to be _Shadow_, even if we didn't do this – what would we do-"

"Right, so this is about _Shadow?_ This isn't _because this is_ _Enjyu we're talking about here_, can you stand there and tell me that if I had picked up Li you'd be saying the same thing?"

"Tsubame, this is irre-"

"What about Wen?"

"Please Tsubame," Mei attempts to interject pleadingly.

"If I brought Gray back, Bull – any one of them?"

"I would do exactl-"

"I don't believe you." Tsubame's voice comes out louder, stronger than he expected. "If you do this, I won't believe in you anymore."

The two are at a standstill, eyes locked. Tsubame turns away first, striding towards the exit.

"I expect you to be there tomorrow Tsubame," Armada says in an obvious attempt to pull rank. It takes all of Tsubame's self-control not to throw himself at his teacher, the man he's always respected and pound his face into the ground.

"I'll do my duty."

-

_rrr. Rrrrrrrrr._

The wall above his head moves and Enjyu stiffens.

-

At times there have been footsteps, a cloth over his eyes and water hastily poured down this throat.

There was that time someone had attempted to force-feed him bread, but an incredibly strong gag-reflex, and several dislodged pieces of bread being sprayed into the air had put them off that idea.

Maybe that's put them off all together.

Enjyu doesn't remember anyone coming since that happened."

-

He's become used to the sliding and clicking of the door. There's nothing else anyway, no windows (though he figures he's underground anyway), nothing but scrap metal and the cords that tie him down.

Click and slide is familiar.

Click-and-slide is something Enjyu knows, maybe one of the only things he knows anymore.

-

There is a tiny creak as something is removed – and suddenly, Enjyu wonders if there is air-vent on the wall; he's never bothered to look, not that his position would let him anyway.

Enjyu's entire body tenses in anticipation.

Something is going to _happen_. _Someone _is coming.

Cool synthetic fabric brushes his wrists, as his cuffs are untied. The same motion repeats itself over his foot. Enjyu waits for them to be re-tied, for them to be replaced.

"Get up," the voice hisses – and Enjyu recognizes it immediately. He releases a sigh of relief that he didn't know he'd been keeping.

"Terry?"

"How's your ankle?"

Enjyu looks down – and then remembers he actually has feet. Being literally bed-bound, has put a damper on his awareness of body parts.

He attempts to raises his foot – that seems okay. He shakes it a little, and then attempts to rotate it- pain shoots up through his ankle to his mouth and he barely contains it. The would-be howl is muffled down to a soft whimper.

"How's walking for you?"

Enjyu hesitates. He thinks back, mind flashing to the anonymous figure, the sack- "I did before. When, that happened – I think I can."

"You think?" Terry-Tsubame pauses. "Never mind, let's not risk it lad."

A thick leather band loops around Enjyu's waist, and a sudden weight appears on Enjyu's thigh. His newly-freed hands fumble awkwardly towards the object, and when Enjyu's fingertips meet the familiar touch of steel, for the first time since he's been awake – he feels _safe_.

"C'mon, we need to get you into that vent."

Enjyu looks up at where the vent should be. Suddenly the thought strikes him, "Where are we going?"

"Ask that later," Tsubame snaps, nudging Enjyu back onto the bed. "I can boost you, you'll need to pull yourself up though."

-

One air vent leads to another.

One air vent, as Enjyu soon learns leads to a whole maze of air vents, each narrower than the rest.

Enjyu is incredibly grateful that Tsubame's super-sonic crawling pace means that he is too busy trying to catch up to spend time panicking and generally acting like a total pussy.

Finally, just when Enjyu is about to say that there is no way he can fit into anything smaller than _this vent_, there is light. Three narrow bars of illuminated gray-white, shining down on the muted lavender of the vent.

Tsubame stops, forcing Enjyu to back up.

The grate clicks, and grates, and with a sharp tug – and a flash of metal so fast that Enjyu barely caught it, it opens. Smoothly, Tsubame dangles his feet over the opening, and jumps down.

Enjyu is far more hesitant.

It doesn't look too far down, but the constant pain of his ankle is more than enough to remind him that maybe, maybe he shouldn't just go for it.

"I don't think my _ankle-_" he begins to whisper, feeling weak for having this problem in the first place. "I don't think it-"

A ladder appears underneath his feet. "Thanks."

-

The new room is far bigger than the one Enjyu's been kept in.

There is still scrap metal everywhere, but what catches Enjyu's eyes – what completely, utterly astounds him until he feels like squealing like a fan-girl is the most beautiful thing Enjyu has ever seen.

Standing there, with its teasing smooth curves, and its gleaming metal exhaust – is the motorbike of Enjyu's deepest, darkest fantasies.

Tsubame catches the look and elbows Enjyu. "Don't even think about it," he warns, shoving an orange construction worker's jumpsuit in his hands.

"Get changed."

"Now?" Enjyu says. Terry rolls his eyes as he heads over to a monitor on the left. "We're all guys here, you know."

-

Slide _click click click click click_.

Instantly, the duo freeze – Enjyu's hands still doing up the zipper and Terry's finger still hovering over the 'B' key.

Neither are psychic, but a very universal '_fuck'_ is shared by both minds.

Enjyu is still not sure what they are doing, but Tsubame's half-terrified, half-determined expression and crawling through air vents has told Enjyu that whatever the blue-haired boy is doing, it's probably not meant to happen.

Not _allowed to happe_n.

Tsubame motions frantically at the Enjyu's waist.

There is a very embarrassing pause as Enjyu thinks Terry's gesturing at the other thing near his waist, but he gets the message in the end and takes out his b-damon.

Footsteps enter the room, the door click-slide-clicks shut. A red hand reaches out for the switch, and before he can even comprehend what he's doing Enjyu's launched.

"_B-da fire!" _The words blast out of his mouth before he can stop himself, the b-da ball rushes through the air and hits the newcomer on contact.

The ball bounces harmlessly off, but it's enough time for Tsubame to rush forward and slam a thick wrench down on the back of the stranger's skull. Brown eyes roll back into their sockets as the figure collapses onto the floor.

_Bleep_.

A standard communicator smashes against the ground; automatically sending off signals to the main system.

Enjyu stands there in shock, eyes glued onto his shiny blue-b-da ball next to the unconscious boy. "What-how-my b-da-"

"For b-damage's sake, get moving!"

Tsubame grabs onto Enjyu's arm and yanks him towards the monitor. Tsubame's other hand flies over the key-board, inputting codes. "The com – it's going to send a signal to the mainframe!"

Enjyu catches sight of the monitor. 88% complete.

Suddenly, a shrill shrieking sound attacks his ears and he doubles over, his hands covering petrified ears. "What is that-!"

Tsubame jumps about, his weight switching rapidly from one foot to another, "hurry up, hurry up – 97%-"

Click. Bleep. Click. Slide.

A cabinet opens up a few metres ahead, Tsubame lunges forward, his hands reaching for the small black box containing the elusive teleport crystal. Enjyu can barely lift his head up from the noise.

"C'mon lad," Tsubame half-shouts, no longer bothering to be quiet – but then realises the problem as he sees Enjyu clutching at his head. "I forgot –"

-

Behind them, the door opens.

-

dundundunnnnnnn... and so chapter two ends ! read and review! :) and expect a update in a month or so. maybe less since my hols are coming soon ~


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